diff --git a/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/bnd.bnd b/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/bnd.bnd
index 2dda328f0c99..92d205c9a158 100644
--- a/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/bnd.bnd
+++ b/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/bnd.bnd
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #*******************************************************************************
-# Copyright (c) 2017,2022 IBM Corporation and others.
+# Copyright (c) 2017, 2024 IBM Corporation and others.
 # All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
 # are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 # which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ instrument.disabled: true
 	com.ibm.websphere.javaee.connector.1.6;version=latest,\
 	com.ibm.websphere.security;version=latest,\
 	com.ibm.ws.javaee.dd.common;version=latest,\
+	com.ibm.ws.kernel.boot.common;version=latest,\
 	com.ibm.ws.kernel.service,\
 	com.ibm.ws.classloading;version=latest,\
 	com.ibm.ws.container.service;version=latest,\
diff --git a/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/src/com/ibm/ejs/j2c/ConnectionManager.java b/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/src/com/ibm/ejs/j2c/ConnectionManager.java
index eb71b393347e..fbefa9974ba4 100644
--- a/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/src/com/ibm/ejs/j2c/ConnectionManager.java
+++ b/dev/com.ibm.ws.jca.cm/src/com/ibm/ejs/j2c/ConnectionManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2021 IBM Corporation and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2024 IBM Corporation and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@
 import com.ibm.wsspi.kernel.service.utils.FilterUtils;
 import com.ibm.wsspi.resource.ResourceFactory;
 
+import io.openliberty.checkpoint.spi.CheckpointPhase;
+
 /**
  * An instance of the ConnectionManager class is created by the
  * ConnectionFactoryBuilder for a deployed resource adapter when the first
@@ -330,6 +332,14 @@ public Object allocateConnection(ManagedConnectionFactory factory, ConnectionReq
                                                                 "logging.");
                     throw e;
                 }
+
+                boolean beforeCheckpoint = !CheckpointPhase.getPhase().restored();
+                if (beforeCheckpoint) {
+                    mcWrapper.markStale();
+                    if (isTraceOn && tc.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                        Tr.debug(this, tc, "Marked the mcWrapper stale " + mcWrapper + " Do not pool any connection before checkpoint restore");
+                    }
+                }
             } catch (ResourceException e) {
                 mcWrapper.setPoolState(poolState);
                 com.ibm.ws.ffdc.FFDCFilter.processException(e, "com.ibm.ejs.j2c.ConnectionManager.allocateConnection", "344", this);
diff --git a/dev/io.openliberty.data.internal.persistence/src/io/openliberty/data/internal/persistence/DataProvider.java b/dev/io.openliberty.data.internal.persistence/src/io/openliberty/data/internal/persistence/DataProvider.java
index 4d7d4de05c46..f6a6db2b7b62 100644
--- a/dev/io.openliberty.data.internal.persistence/src/io/openliberty/data/internal/persistence/DataProvider.java
+++ b/dev/io.openliberty.data.internal.persistence/src/io/openliberty/data/internal/persistence/DataProvider.java
@@ -210,11 +210,21 @@ public void applicationStarting(ApplicationInfo appInfo) throws StateChangeExcep
     public void applicationStarted(ApplicationInfo appInfo) throws StateChangeException {
         Collection<FutureEMBuilder> futures = futureEMBuilders.remove(appInfo.getName());
         if (futures != null) {
+            boolean beforeCheckpoint = !CheckpointPhase.getPhase().restored();
             for (FutureEMBuilder futureEMBuilder : futures) {
-                // This delays createEMBuilder until restore.
-                // While this works by avoiding all connections to the data source, it does make restore much slower.
-                // TODO figure out how to do more work on restore without having to make a connection to the data source
-                CheckpointPhase.onRestore(() -> futureEMBuilder.completeAsync(futureEMBuilder::createEMBuilder, executor));
+                if (beforeCheckpoint)
+                    try {
+                        // Run the task in the foreground if before a checkpoint.
+                        // This is necessary to ensure this task completes before the checkpoint.
+                        // Application startup performance is not as important before checkpoint
+                        // and this ensures we don't do this work on restore side which will make
+                        // restore faster.
+                        futureEMBuilder.complete(futureEMBuilder.createEMBuilder());
+                    } catch (Throwable x) {
+                        futureEMBuilder.completeExceptionally(x);
+                    }
+                else
+                    futureEMBuilder.completeAsync(futureEMBuilder::createEMBuilder, executor);
             }
         }
     }